Posts Tagged ‘No Seriously…Soccer’

In a new book detailing David Beckham’s time in the MLS, U.S. forward Landon Donovan took an opportunity to do what he does best — whine about things. Donovan chastisted Beckham for his lack of commitment to the Galaxy, among other things.

Make no mistake, Beckham is now a largely overrated player. But, Landon Donovan is by far the most overrated player in U.S. team history (sorry, second-most after Freddy Adu). He is not even in the same stratosphere as Beckham in terms of ability or accomplishment. (Beckham has twice been runner up to FIFA player of the year and won the Treble in 1999. Donovan has MVP’s at the MLS All-Star game and the MLS Cup and has never scored a goal in club soccer outside of the MLS.) If Landon cared as much about improving his game as he did about crying about it, he may have actually lived up to his potential.

The United States Soccer team choked away a 2-0 first half lead to lose to Brazil in the Confederations Cup Final. Brazil scored 3 unanswered second half goals and should have had four but for the ref missing the ball crossing the goal line. While the U.S. team should be applauded for making its first ever F.I.F.A. men’s final, this epic gag job should not be forgiven. So in summary, congrats on making the final and congrats on having a 2-0 lead at half time but epic fail at not choking on apple sauce in the second half.

Landon Donovan may as well have actually shit himself in the second half for all the good he did.

The United States is not particularly good at soccer. Over the years we’ve dabbled with mediocre – making it out of pool play in the ’94 World Cup, cracking the quarterfinals in the ’02 World Cup, and winning something called the Gold Cup in 2002, 2005, and 2007. Hell for a brief period in April 2006 the US reached FOURTH in the FIFA rankings before falling all over themselves in the ’06 World Cup. But for the most part USA soccer has just well – existed.

This week – in the Confederation Cup (an event in which I can only assume the winner recieves the “Jefferson Davis Memorial Trophy”) – the United States side has tackled international powerhouses Italy and Brazil. The short-handed U.S. actually hung with Italy and owned a 1-0 lead in the 2nd half before the Sons of Super Mario stormed back with 3 goals to close out a win. Earlier (more…)